Need opinions on camera placement and types

[steve457]

I discovered this forum a few days ago and have been learning as much as I could by reading through the many threads, and have finally come to what I believe is a decent setup. I've included a top view of my house. Red lines are doors with the larger red line being the garage. Green dots are where I'm thinking of placing the cameras and have numbered them accordingly.



Below are the cameras I am thinking of for each location.

Number	Location	Camera Type	Lens	Model
1	Front Door	Turret	4mm Fixed	DS-2CD2342WD-I
2	Front by window	Dome	Vari Motorized	DS-2CD2742FWD-IZS
3	Front garage outside	Bullet	Vari Motorized	DS-2CD2642FWD-IZS
4	Garage side door	Bullet	4mm Fixed	DS-2CD2042WD-I
5	Backyard	Turret	2.8mm Fixed	DS-2CD2342WD-I

I have a few questions.

1. The front door camera will be placed right next to the door about 6 or 7 feet high. Should I go with a 2.8mm or 4mm lens. I was thinking 4mm for better face recognition.

2. The #2 camera would generally be pointed in the SW facing position. I wasn't sure what mm lens to go with here, so figured the Vari option would be a good solution. Does that make sense? Also is the motorized lens also able to pan and tilt using the monitor or is just the zoom motorized?

3. I also choose a vari lens option for outside the garage, due to uncertainty on knowing what focal length to go with. Would it be better to just go with 4mm fixed here?

Thanks for any suggestions.
-Steve

 

[klasipca]

Welcome to the dark side! Daytime performance will be excellent with those cams, but if you care about having clear picture at night in some of those spots look at other options. Alternatively you could solve it by adding additional light sources.

Also instead of varifocal check out Huisun mini Ptz

 

[steve457]

What are some other camera recommendations to get better nighttime performance? I had figured the turrets would be better than the domes, but probably not enough?

 

[klasipca]

What are some other camera recommendations to get better nighttime performance? I had figured the turrets would be better than the domes, but probably not enough?

If you want to stay all Hikvision they have lightfigher or nightfighter series. See here
https://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php/7913-Best-WDR-low-light-backlight-camera

 

[steve457]

Those 4K and 6MP cameras look nice, but are outside of what I was looking to spend on a per camera basis.

I had another question around mounting dome cameras. Could those cameras be mounted on walls or must they be mounted horizontally on ceilings or a bracket?

 

[dalepa]

For the prices of 1 vari lens, you can get 2-4 fixed. I would go with 2.8mm turrets over doors 6-7ft , 1-2 4mm over garages.

More here with a good price for 4mp hik turrets:

https://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php/7991-Seeking-advice-on-camera-placement?p=71266&viewfull=1#post71266